Hi guys, I will be buying my first K98 here in the next two week or so. Have any of you ever done hand loads for a K98? My husband and I reload alot for our other guns and I want to load the ammo myself. Any sugestions of the weight of bullet, powder type and grains of powder? Thanks.
Hand loads for K98
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There are several powders that come to mind, AA2520 with sierra 175 pro hunter, 4064 and Remington 185 Corloc works good two. If you decide to load some heavy stuff try 4350 0r AA2700. I always use WLR primers but have tried Federal GM210M on smoe of the more developed rounds with good results. Sunfish
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well each rifle IMHO has its own sweet spot. the powders i tend to use are 4064, varget, and AA2520. with a 200gr bullet, try varget say 44 gr and work up. my latest load is varget 46gr and a 200gr hollow point. i tend to go heavy on the bullet weight, for some reason that is the most consistent in all rifles. but i do load 125gr bullets for coyote. when i go ligher than say the 185gr bullets (i miss those 'bulk' bullets at 185gr, anyone know where to get em?) i find it harder to find a load thats consistent rifle to rifle, for example on 150gr bullet, one rifle will shoot 3 inch group with 45 gr varget,, but same load in another rifle is all over paper. also watch bullet shape and style. my gew98, only likes flat based bullets.
hornady has some 200gr hollow points,not to expensive, and thats what i use for target shooting.
also see 'yugo sniper' ammo. getting expensive, but its as good as 90% of my reloads.
also especally with rc, make sure you are seating the bullet correctly. those chambers are funky. i have a general 'seat' bullet i use, but when i load a k98 i take a cartrage and mark it, seat is way on out, chamber it, then measure where it hits the lands, go back say .05+ from there. be careful on that. seat it to far out and the pressure just jumps.
hornady has some 200gr hollow points,not to expensive, and thats what i use for target shooting.
also see 'yugo sniper' ammo. getting expensive, but its as good as 90% of my reloads.
also especally with rc, make sure you are seating the bullet correctly. those chambers are funky. i have a general 'seat' bullet i use, but when i load a k98 i take a cartrage and mark it, seat is way on out, chamber it, then measure where it hits the lands, go back say .05+ from there. be careful on that. seat it to far out and the pressure just jumps.
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With the 175 to 200 grain bullet you cant go wrong with IMR 4064 powder. If you are shooting 150 grainers 4895 might be a bit better. I just shoot the heavier bullets 175-200 in the 7.92x57 and never had a rifle that did not like 4064 powder
I think I'm gonna try the 4064. We have a few pounds of it. My husband has hundreds of 30-06 for the Garand I bought him a frw years ago so I'm going to get a full length die and see how they work converted to 8mm. (pardon for any misspellings. My 2 yr old helped typw this.)
So what type of bulletshould I use? FMJ or a soft point? My husband thinks a softpoint boat tail would work. I'll be mostly target shooting from 100+ yards into a big dirt backstop. (we live in a rual area on 35 acers so we basically have our own shooting range.) I think 'll try and stay about the 175 gr on the weight.
You are on the right track. Buy yourself a RCBS trim/form die. I have one and its the greatest thing since sliced bread. You run a lubed 30-06 down to 8mm in one stroke and before you raise the arm you trim it off with a hacksaw in one lick. The die is so hard the hacksaw wont even scratch it. Sunfish
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